womencanengineerhttps://womencanengineer.wordpress.com
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One year on – Part 2https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/one-year-on-part-2/
https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/one-year-on-part-2/#respondTue, 02 Feb 2016 20:06:17 +0000http://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/?p=65As university is split into two semesters, I am following up ‘One year on-Part 1’, with parts 2 (Second semester)!

With the workshop experience and lab work completed in the first semester, second semester of my first year seemed to be much quieter. I began to become much closer to the girls on my course and felt more comfortable in the university environment. University life suited me perfectly and I loved every minute of it, from the social aspect to the studying (well most of it, it is studying after all!).

Course Content

As I mentioned earlier, I had a relatively quiet second semester compared to my first. Maths was a continual module for the whole year, except this time the maths I was studying felt newer to me than before. If you have done further maths at A Level, then I am sure the content may have been more familiar; this did make it more challenging for me but as maths is my best subject I still found the resources provided by the lecture more than enough to help me through it.

The resources for every module provided by the lecturers were amazing! Before going to university, I was really worried about the small amount of help I was told everyone got at university. In my case, all my lecturers did, and still do put effort into notes they provide and the extra resources online. Often if you are really stuck and email the lecturer, they will meet you and try to help you understand it again. If you look for the help, you will usually get it.

Thermodynamics was half of a module, alongside side statics as the other half. I found the statics of materials (the stresses and moments of a materials torque and bending) relatively simple to understand as there is a method by which you find and answer and that method will be the same for a specific type of question (much like maths). However, thermodynamics, for me, was a completely different experience. In our very first lecture for this topic, our lecturer opened with this quote:

“The first time you go through it, you don’t understand it at all. The second time you go through it, you think you understand it, except for one or two small points. The third time you go through it, you know you don’t understand it, but by that time you are so used to it, it doesn’t bother you anymore.”

Now, I’m not trying to put people off, in fact it isn’t as bad as it sounds! But, it is very much a module in which you will learn how something works and the equations that show it, but you never seem to understand why. If you loved physics at A level then I am convinced you would appreciate and understand this module A LOT more than I did. It took a lot more time for me to get my head around it, but I definitely got there eventually!

Material processes and manufacturing as well as design were introduced during first semester and were explored into more detail during second semester. I’d recommend to anyone that is studying engineering, to pay particular attention to manufacturing and materials properties. This is because they are so important to engineering and any future projects you might do in subsequent years will 100% need that knowledge. In fact, I found that I seemed to recall a lot of the information in second year because it is repeated in so many other areas and modules.

I can definitely say that every single module you do, you will need for further study or after university. My second semester made me feel more confident in my knowledge of engineering but also much more comfortable and relaxed around the university. I love it even more every day. A bonus is also the long breaks you get compared to school and sixth form!

The lack of girls studying engineering at my university did not affect my experience one bit. If anything, I think it has meant that I have become much closer to the girls on my course than I would have otherwise. This might sound like I have isolated myself and only befriended the girls, but I have many friends on my course, including boys. Having a smaller year group (around 70 in mechanical and mechanical and medical) significantly impacted that because I find it less intimidating and you will haven spoken to most of the course by the end of your first year.

Choosing to go to university was confirmed to be the best decision I have ever made after first year was completed. It is an amazing experience, and engineering is for girls!

Women can engineer

thelittleengineer

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]]>https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/one-year-on-part-2/feed/0"YES you can" on chalkboardthelittleengineer1One year on – Part 1https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/one-year-on-part-1/
https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/one-year-on-part-1/#respondSat, 07 Nov 2015 20:44:09 +0000http://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/?p=31Upon commencing my second year at university, I thought it was time to share my experience as a girl studying first year engineering.

As is most people, I was apprehensive but extremely excited to start university. My first memory is walking into university on enrolment day and having to stop and ask for help next to a queue of boys waiting to go into the enrolment room. I felt like I was being looked at as though I was in the wrong place! I was!

As I have said before, in medical engineering the ratio of girls to boys is more even but because the medical engineering department at my university is small and at most universities the first year of an engineering degree is generic, all of my lectures were mixed with the mechanical engineering students.

Course Content

I found that a lot of the first semester material was covering a level work I had already done (especially maths!).

One aspect of the course I had not experienced was the practical work in the workshop. We spent the whole semester gaining experience and knowledge of the machinery used for metal work and making a toolbox using it. This might put some people off and I have to say I was not keen on wearing overalls, steel toe cap boots and goggles! However, it is important to understand how things are made, even if you might never physically make them again. It does help with future project work, believe me!

Being a very small girl I had no problem getting help when I couldn’t reach handles on the machine! I think I should recommend they keep a stool in there! Regardless, I still managed to win an award for best toolbox!

Throughout semester I took part in a lab sessions every week. At 3 hours long they were definitely not as intense as the electronic engineers’ at 6 hours! We were expected to read up on the lab before hand, and this was not pages and pages of work but as long as you had shown an understanding of the principles and theoretical basis of the lab you were marked well. The labs range from basic tensile tests (if you have/are currently studying physics at a level, this kind of thing will naturally be easier) to the testing of other properties of materials, deflection in beams and we even managed to fit in a medical lab. This lab involved a basic model of the human arm and investigating what force from the biceps was required to keep the forearm still when a load of 2N was applied. After each lab, we had to write a full report. I have to admit it can be long and tiring (maybe even stressful) but it is really good practice and you get a really satisfying feeling once you have completed one!

My experience will not be the same as everyone else’s. But it is nice to know it might not be as scary as you think it is! Even though it may be male dominated us girls can still do it and enjoy every minute of it!

Going to university was the best decision I ever made, and it opens the door to so many opportunities. Look out for part 2 (Semester 2)!

Women Can Engineer

thelittleengineer

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]]>https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/one-year-on-part-1/feed/0Motivational-Quotes-for-Working-Out9thelittleengineer1Why? Why not?https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/why-why-not/
https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/why-why-not/#respondWed, 09 Sep 2015 11:26:01 +0000http://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/?p=17Why is it that when we talk about girls/women in engineering it usually seems to be in a negative context? Always hearing why girls don’t do engineering isn’t helping or encouraging us to get involved; I think it’s just reiterating the issue and discouraging us more! Being told why people like you choose not to do something is, I think, definitely not motivating.

I think it would be nice for girls to read why other girls, like me, do choose it!

1. The gender ratio, from a positive view!

The fact that there are few girls in the engineering sector should be relished by every girl wanting to pursue a career in it. Women are needed in the workplace to create a well rounded mental ability and are highly valued in the engineering industry, so you can be reassured you will not be over looked. Companies even have their own programmes in place to encourage women to join! The campaign to get girls into engineering has produced so many resources and opportunities for young women and we should make the most of it while they are there! Seeing this window of opportunity gives us girls a chance to prove a point. We can do it and we will prove all the stereotypes wrong.

2. Endless opportunities

Engineering is not a narrow field of study, it opens so many doors. You could work in the UK, or abroad, or both! You could see so many different places and this is not just when you are working full time but at university as well. There are many universities that offer the opportunity to gain experience in industry during your degree at home or abroad; not to mention the chance of studying for a year in a different country! The career path is not just engineering; the mathematical and problem solving skills that an engineer can offer are sort after by lots of companies.

Personally, I also like the fact that I could end up anywhere and have a career I feel passionate about. It just motivates me more to make sure I get a good degree.

3. It’s worth it

Engineering is well known for it’s difficulty at degree level and the satisfaction you could get from completing a degree in a branch of engineering would be extremely worth it. Not to mention the satisfaction you get from the reaction people give you when you are a girl and you tell them that you study engineering at university! Trust me, it is a good feeling. As an added bonus the annual salary for an engineer is definitely easy on the eye!

Women and engineering are two words that fit together much better than they ever did before and now, it seems like a better time than any to get into engineering. Girls can do it.

thelittleengineer

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]]>https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/why-why-not/feed/0Positive-Inspirational-Picture-Quotethelittleengineer1Get a Headstart!https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/get-a-headstart/
https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/get-a-headstart/#respondTue, 28 Jul 2015 19:04:37 +0000http://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/?p=26It is always a struggle trying to find events/courses that can give you an experience of engineering. I also know the struggle of trying to find things that can improve your personal statement for university!

EDT Headstart summer school is an amazing experience, particularly if you want to try specific types of engineering. I attended the Headstart summer school in the summer between Year 12 and Year 13 and it was an all girls Insight summer school at Salford University. It was one of the best experiences I have had.

My Itinerary…

As always it was daunting at first because I knew I would be living in halls for a few days and spending all my time with people I had just met. Arrival day was not as scary as I expected at all! Everyone gathered in the kitchen and we all introduced ourselves. Within hours we were all talking as though we had known each other for months.

Day 1: we had an “ice breaker” challenge. I know when some people read this it might be an eye rolling moment, and believe me I have had my fair share of awkward ice breakers at college and university. The activity they gave us was designed to team build and teach us to compromise when working in a team. We were given straws and newspaper and had to make a track for a marble to roll down. The winners being the team that caused the ball to fall in the longest time. All I can say is it was not awkward because we were all laughing too much at how horrendous some of them looked!

Day 2: Jam packed! We had presentations given by practising engineers, all of which were female! It was nice to hear from some women for a change! The course provided different projects for different areas of engineering (chemical, biomedical, civil and more). This allowed you to learn more about a specific area that might interest you. I chose biomedical and I found it more interesting than expected as it opened my mind up to parts of medical engineering I had not thought about before (e.g. orthotics). The day was finished with a trip the the theatre; and again, it was nice spend more time with the friends you had made in the last two days.

Day 3: It involved various industry field trips and these were relevant to the project you had chosen. Mine specifically was a visit to a United Biscuits (incorporating the food and health and safety areas of medical engineering). We had the opportunity to see different departments of the factory, including the control/programming room, and the factory in which the biscuits were made. It was fascinating to see how the different department worked in different ways. This visit also ended on a high when we were given free packets of a new biscuits that hadn’t been released yet! To prove just how full our days were, we were then transported to Manchester Airport to view the Concorde (amazing experience to say the least!), after which we all attended a formal dinner to receive our certificates for completing the course. It is always a bonus to be able to dress up and receive a certificate!

Day 4: This day was dedicated to presentations with reference to everything we had understood during the project sessions. This way, we had the opportunity to learn a small amount about the other areas of engineering we had not chosen.

Attending the Headstart summer school was one of the best decisions I have made. The confidence I gained has been invaluable to me and it made even more excited to study engineering and move to university. I learnt specific information about the Medical Engineering that I had not come across before this residential. Just because there are specific courses for girls it does not mean boys are not encouraged as well it just means that they are acknowledging the higher demand for girls!

The Headstart summer school was something that was encouraged through my sixth form college. There are numerous courses to choose from (not just for engineering, for STEM subjects as well) and these are all located at different universities in the UK. Unfortunately I know that not everyone has that privilege and so I hope anyone reading this will be inspired to apply for themselves or urge someone else to. But believe me when I say it is so much better experienced first hand.

]]>https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/get-a-headstart/feed/0b703b66559259872246bcb7fa4bc6068_400x400thelittleengineer1Who says you need to be a man to be an engineer?!https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/who-says-need-you-to-be-a-man-to-be-an-engineer/
https://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/who-says-need-you-to-be-a-man-to-be-an-engineer/#respondSun, 12 Jul 2015 20:08:20 +0000http://womencanengineer.wordpress.com/?p=4As a girl currently studying Mechanical and Medical Engineering, I have been made well aware of the gender ratio in engineering. I know some people’s perception of the ‘push’ to get girls into engineering is just because we think we can do a better job, but it’s really not. The whole point of girls joining the sector of engineering is to diversify the work place because the female and male minds are stronger at working in different ways. We all have our strengths and weaknesses but when we work together we find the best and most efficient solutions to engineering problems.

I think there are so many reasons why girls choose not to study engineering such as it sounding ‘manly’ or ‘boring’. Even some people that don’t know about it think it’s about fixing cars! I know that some girls are put off because it is full of men and I used to think the same when I was at school. I have found that Medical Engineering seems to have more of a 60/40 split of boys to girls. This may be due to the medical aspect because I know some people use Medical Engineering as a back up from studying medicine. However, when I attend lectures (for Mechanical Engineering) you could play ‘spot the female’ because there are so few girls there and I only have one female lecturer!

The fact that there are more boys than girls always seems to be expressed in a negative way, rather than a positive thing to motivate girls. I think people need to stop focusing on trying to persuade girls to pursue a career in engineering because of the gender ratio and try to encourage them based on what they can gain from studying such a challenging and rewarding subject.

I have decided to set up this blog because I want to try and get other girls into engineering by sharing my experiences at university and studying engineering as a degree. I had little encouragement into engineering until I got to college and considered what I would like to study at university. I think that was because the ‘big push’ to get girls into engineering was in it’s early stages. I never heard what it was like to study engineering from a girl, and I think if I had that reassurance I would have felt much more confident starting at university.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a typical ‘girlie’ girl and I love anything pink and sparkly and to be quite honest I’m not tall enough to reach some of the machinery nor do I have enough strength to operate half of the machinery in the workshop at uni; but I haven’t let that stop me.

Just because there aren’t many girls doesn’t mean it’s a “man’s” profession, it means girls have the opportunity to prove that you don’t need to be a man to do it.